June 15th, 2000
The First Ride of our Club
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BIG CLUB HUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HISTORY
These pics are from our first ride in June 2000 after putting the club together! The history of how things started to culminate begins in 1997 when I was working my second job at Advance Auto Parts and Batteries at Airport/Schillinger road. I had been wheeling my truck since I purchased her in 1996, and through my job at Advance Auto parts started to realize a large interest in 4x4's through customers that had visited the store, people always coming in and telling me they have a 4x4, and do I know places to ride, and sometimes asked if I would I go on a wheeling trip with them. So at that point I decided to have people meet at the store every Wednesday night after work at 9:30 and wow did things take off, what started out as a few people showing up to ride turned into huge rides. We even had one Wednesday night ride in November 1997 that numbered 23 trucks!!! So it was obvious that we should start organizing something that could be an all day affair for everybody to enjoy, and that is pretty much how we became a club! Our three original club members are: me, Grant Kinkade, and Justin Morgan. We decided to organize a club with a twist to it. Our vision was to have a organized 4x4 club without a president, secretary, board etc. Because lets face it, these facts hold true no matter what: everybody wants to have a great time on the trail, no-body wants enjoyable things to turn into unnecessary work, and of course everybody should be treated equal, no matter what they drive, if you are a responsible person, love to wheel, know how to act like an adult, helpful, and have a continuing goal to do proper mods to your truck, you belong with us! Nobody wants to be on the trail with a guy that has a built to the hilt rig and a stuck up attitude! We are in this for the love of the sport, and the fellowship among friends! And the main reason we don't need a specific organization structure is because anybody with a poor attitude will not get in!! All we request is a good attitude, attend at least 3 rides and a want to build that rig! Come ride with us! Any questions can be E-mailed to me, click HERE, or any other club member on this site.
MEMBERSHIP
As stated above, our main requirements for membership are good attitude, love for 4wheeling and to make 3 rides. We have no membership dues, just pitch in to help pay for the website, and we do not have any specific chain of command as we believe everybody has the same voice with this club! Our 3 ride criteria is your audition to us, using this method we get only high quality people and personalities in the club, which in turn shows why we do not need a chain of command, basically we are all responsible adult people that have a great time together!
DISCLAIMER: We only have two set in stone policies that even come close to being a by-law,, 1. Make 3 rides,no deviation,then majority of club agrees on potential member unless unusual circumstances dictate the following policy. 2. The three original members reserve the right to collectively and automatically bring in new members without a whole club agreement, we also reserve the right to remove somebody from the club without a whole club agreement!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now this 2nd policy is and will only be used as a last resort and will not be normal procedure!! Its kinda like what your parents used to tell you when you were a kid..... I brought you into this world,, I will take you out of it!!! Nothing like that has ever happened, and I hope it never will, but... you never know... Greg,
Hope to see you on the trail soon! Greg Miles
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Old Wednesday night memorial......
The Wednesday nights of 1998-1999 were fun and memorable!! I collectively like to think of those nights and the people who rode back then the pioneers of the high caliber vehicles and 4wheeling we see in people in the Mobile area to this day!! Back then, not many people with 4x4's knew what a locker was, much less the importance of one! Most people thought that putting the tallest set of tires on a truck that you could get on it made that truck the most formidable machine around!! Even though everything else was stock!!! These guys are the original ones that started to raise the bar for hardcore 4wheeling around here!! Some are still around, some are not!!! Listed are some of the most remembered and the rigs they drove at the time!!
1.Alan Solesbye.........1997 Z-71
2. Gary Pitts................1997 Z-71
3. Josh Armour..1986 Toy 4runner
4. James Havard...1988(?) Chev 4x4
5. Brian Dobbins....1999(?) Dodge 1500 4x4
6. Greg Miles........1987 Toy 4runner
7. Merlyn George........1979(?) Chev 4x4
8. Alex Sibley............2000 Z-71
9. John Crowley.........1999 Dodge 1500 4x4
10. Ronnie Beesley......1997 Z-71
SOME CLUB HISTORY Q&A:
Q. Where did we come up with our club name?
A. We had alot of names to chose from, but went with Lockitup somewhat due to lockers and our importance we based on that mod. It originally was supposed to mean "all lockers in this club" until we started to open the club to everybody.
Q. Where did we get our club logo?
A. Grant Kinkade drew it up from looking at a combination of different pictures in the 4x4 mags.
Q. Is the club logo a Toyota 4x4?
A. No, we tried to make a median 4x4 picture, basically regular cab pick-up truck, middle of the road type of rig, some people say it looks like a Toyota, but it wasn't designed that way!
Q. Why do I have to make at least 3 rides to get in the club?
A. Three rides to show us that you will actually be an involved and participating member, also for the other members to see that you are a quality person.
Q. Why did your club branch out with this web-site and open up for all riders?
A. In the beginning we were content with our small group of friends as the club, then another 4x4 club in the Mobile area came into being, and after joining that club also and getting frustrated with how that clubs leadership would not acknowlede non-jeep owners and down-right ridicule us, plus the club getting together and doing everything but riding, we saw those short-comings and decided to learn from other's mistakes, and build this into a club that anyone would enjoy and feel at home in!!
Q. Why doesn't your club have a chain of command?
A. First reason, reference the 3 ride thing, we will not let people in that need constant baby-sitting, we do not let attitudes in the door either, every major club decision is made by committee via e-mail sent to the rest of members.If it is an emergency or something serious, we will call meetings, but not often. Our normal policy on having to meet is that we will do it before or after a ride, as long as 4wheeling is involved!! As of yet, we have only called one official meeting of club members.
Q. You guys say that no attitudes belong in your club, yet some of the members write-ups bag on other member rigs, what is up with that?
A. We all are very competitive towards each other, we talk smack to each other in pure, good-natured jest, you can talk to any member and they will readily acknowledge the strength's of other vehicles over their rigs, besides when you are as close of friends as we are, we could pretty much talk about each other's mommies and it would be a big joke!!!
Q. Does my rig have to be modified to get into the club?
A. No, if you have 4wheeling blood, and dream everynight with your 4x4 mag about what you want to do with your rig, you belong with us!!!
Q. When I go on rides, I notice that you guys cover the ride with alot of video-tape and digital images. How do I get copies of video and images?
A. The day after each club ride Greg Miles and Stephen Beal will automatically download and e-mail post them on the site. If you want video copy just make arrangements to get a blank tape to one of the two people above, or bring a blank tape to the next ride and make a note on which rides you want on the tape, and we'll do it for you.
Q. When I go into other 4x4 web-sites, they all have "we support tread lightly" blazened everywhere, why don't you guys? do you abide by tread lightly principles?
A. Yes we do! You just have to remember what area of the country we're in, and land closure issues are different around here, first off, we do not have public land down here that is designated for off-road vehicles, our land mainly consists of private owned land that the owner allows us to ride on with the stipulation of don't sue me or get the cops called out here!! The good news is that the terrain around Mobile and south Alabama is extremely regenerative! In other words, vegetation and trees will pretty much grow back as fast as they get killed. We do not like mud or water, we avoid it as that is where most environmental damage would happen through silt, and we normally do not blaze new through straight wilderness unless it is an emergency situation! Also what comes on the trail with us leaves the trail with us! All of this Tread lightly in a nutshell.... we all are responsible adults!! Also, currently, all of the locations that we do ride have been slated for developement sometime in the future, so we do not ride on any protected land!!